General information | |
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Year founded | 1958 |
Founding artistic director | Alvin Ailey |
Location | The Joan Weill Center for Dance 405 West 55th Street New York, New York 10019 |
Principal venue | New York City Center |
Website | ailey |
Senior staff | |
Executive Director | Bennett Rink |
Artistic staff | |
Artistic Director | Alicia Graf Mack (beginning July 1, 2025) [1] |
Other | |
Official school | Ailey School |
Associated schools | Ailey Extension |
Founded in 1958, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT) is the largest modern dance company in the United States. [2] Based in New York City, the company was founded by Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Alvin Ailey (1931-1989), a noted choreographer and dancer. The Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, which includes AAADT and Ailey II, the Ailey School, Ailey Extension, AileyCamp, and other operations, is housed in the 87,000 square-foot Joan Weill Center for Dance, one of the largest buildings dedicated exclusively to dance in the United States. [3] AAADT is recognized as a vital American cultural ambassador, [4] and has performed for diverse audiences in more than seventy countries around the world.
In 1958, Alvin Ailey and a group of young Black modern dancers performed as "Alvin Ailey and Company" at the 92nd Street Y in New York. [5] [6] [7] [8] Ailey was the company's director, choreographer, and principal dancer. [9] [10] The company started as an ensemble of seven dancers, including Nat Horne, [11] [12] Minnie Marshall, [11] Ella Thompson Moore, [12] and Dorene Richardson, "the only dancer who performed in Alvin Ailey’s two concerts (1958 and 1960) at the 92nd Street Y." [12] In addition to Ailey, the original company worked with guest choreographers in addition to Ailey. [10] For the company's first performance, Ailey's Ariette Oubliee, Blues Suite, and Cinco Latinos were featured. [6]
In 1960, the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, later to be renamed the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT), presented the premiere of Revelations at Kaufmann Concert Hall in New York. [6] [8] Rehearsals for Revelations were held in the basement of Clark Center for the Performing Arts, [12] which would later serve as the official residence for the company. [6] [13]
In 1962, Ailey recast his all-black dance company into a multi-racial group, and the modernized company completed its first international tour to Australia and southeast Asia. [5] [10] [14] The tour of the Lavallade-Ailey American Dance Company, named for Ailey's partnership with Carmen de Lavallade, started in Sydney, Australia, and ended in Seoul, South Korea. [15]
In 1964, the company of five women and five men toured as the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater. The dancers included Loretta Abbot, Takako Asakawa, Hope Clarke, Joan Peters, and Lucinda Ransom, [16] Alvin Ailey, Bill Luther, Hector Mercado, James Truitte, and Dudley Williams, performed in Paris and London. [17] [18]
In 1965, Judith Jamison joined the company [19] and would later serve as the company's first artistic director after Alvin Ailey's death in 1989. [5] [20]
In 1969, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performed at Broadway's Billy Rose Theater. [21]
In 1970, the Ailey company and school relocated to 229 East 59th Street in Manhattan, a renovated church building. [15] In April of that year, a financial crisis caused Ailey to issue a statement that the dissolution of the company might take place. [22] The crisis abated, however, and in 1971 AAADT made its first performance at the New York City Center. [23]
In 1974, AAADT had their State Theater at Lincoln Center debut. [8] [24] The program featured Ailey's “Feast of Ashes,” Talley Beatty's “The Road of the Phoebe Snow,” John Butler's “Portrait of Billie” revival, the premiere of John Jones's “Nocturne,” and Joyce Trisler's “Journey.”
In 1977, the company performed at President Jimmy Carter’s inauguration gala. [8]
In 1988, AAADT hosted its 30th-anniversary season gala at the City Center. [9] The company and school are located at 45th Street and Broadway, [9] and move the following year into a 36,000 square-foot space [25] at 211 West 61st Street in Manhattan. [20]
In 1989, Alvin Ailey died from AIDS-related complications. [26] [27] Judith Jamison, who rejoined AAADT in 1989, replaced Ailey as the artistic director of AAADT. [28] The company was struggling with mounting debts, [29] and the number of company dancers was reduced. [9]
In 2000, AAADT launched the silent phase of a five year, sixty-six million dollar capital campaign for a new building that would double its size and an endowment for financial stability. [25]
In 2002, AAADT broke ground on its new building site on West 55th Street. [25] [30]
In 2004, the United States Postal Service issued a first class postage stamp honoring Alvin Ailey as part of the American Choreographers stamp series, [5] [31] and the Oprah Winfrey Foundation pledged one million dollars to endow a student scholarship at the Ailey School. [32] [33]
In 2005, the Ailey organization, including the main company, Ailey II, and the Ailey School, moved into its new West 55th Street home, the Joan Weill Center for Dance, the former WNET-TV studios where AAADT first appeared on television in the early 1960s. [30] [34] [35]
In 2008, Glorya Kaufman donated six million dollars to AAADT's educational programs, including support for AileyCamp programs, the Ailey School, and Ailey's BFA program with Fordham University. [36] The fifth floor lobby in the Weill Center for Dance is named in Kaufman's honor. [36]
Also in 2008, the United States Congress passed a resolution officially designating the company a "vital American Cultural Ambassador to the World." [4] [37] [38]
In 2011, the United States Senate passed a resolution recognizing the artistic and cultural contributions of AAADT and the 50th Anniversary of the first performance of the Ailey classic Revelations . [37] That same year, Robert Battle, artistic director (2011-2023), established a New Directions Choreography Lab to nurture emerging artists. [39]
In 2014, AAADT kicks off a fifty million dollar capital campaign, "Campaign for Ailey's Future," to support artistic, educational, and building expansion projects, and to honor outgoing board chair Joan Weill. [40] Sandy Weill, Joan Weill's husband, provided a lead gift of sixteen million dollars to the campaign. [40]
In 2021, AAADT received a twenty million dollar gift from MacKenzie Scott to support its "Dancing Forward" initiatives. [41] [42] [43]
In 2024, the Whitney Museum unveiled "Edges of Ailey," the first major museum exhibition to survey the artistry of Alvin Ailey and AAADT. [44] [5] In November 2024, AAADT announced that Alicia Graf Mack, a former Alvin Ailey company member and the dean and director of the dance division at Julliard, will take over as AAADT artistic director on July 1, 2025. [1]
The Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation is the largest modern and contemporary dance organization in the United States [2] and consists of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ailey II, The Ailey School, Ailey Camp, Ailey Extension, and Ailey Arts In Education and Community Programs. [43]
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, a prominent dance company and global arts institution, [45] has performed for audiences around the world. [41] The following is a sample of significant AAADT performances, residencies, and tours:
Alvin Ailey created seventy-nine dances for the company that bears his name. [5] He maintained that the company was not solely a repository for his choreography, and sought the contributions from other choreographers. Today, AAADT has a repertory of nearly three hundred works by more than one hundred choreographers, [49] including:
The company keeps Alvin Ailey's works, including Revelations (1960), Night Creature (1974) and Cry (1971), in continuous performance. Memoria was one of Alvin Ailey's balletic pieces, with long lines and a clear technical style different from his usual jazz character style of swirling patters, strong, driving arm movements, huge jumps, and thrusting steps. This dance was later adopted into the repertory of the Royal Danish Ballet. Cry is a three-part, 17-minute solo created for Judith Jamison. It was meant to pay homage to "all Black women everywhere, especially our mothers" and can be seen as a journey from degradation to pride, defiance, and survival. [10] [52] [53] [54] [55]
In 1974, Ailey created the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble (later renamed Ailey II). [41] In 1980, the second company and the Ailey School relocated to four new studios in a building on Broadway. [20]
The Ailey School was established in 1969, [41] [25] the same year the company moved to the Brooklyn Academy of Music. [56] The Ailey School is an accredited institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Dance (NASD). [57] The school is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as an institution of higher education [58] and is eligible to participate in Title IV programs.
In 1998, the Ailey School and Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC), Fordham University launched a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree program. [59] [6] [60] The program is recognized as one of the preeminent BFA dance programs in the country. [59]
In 1989, Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey is founded and develops into the national AileyCamp program. [5] By 2016, AileyCamp expanded to ten cities: Atlanta, GA; Baltimore, MD; Berkeley/ Oakland, CA; Chicago, IL; Kansas City, KS; Kansas City, MO; Miami, FL; New York, NY; Newark, NJ; and Seattle/Tacoma, WA. [5]
In 2023, AileyCamp Atlanta launches a partnership as part of Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens’ Year of the Youth initiative. [5]
The Ailey Extension was created in 2005. [41] Ailey Extension offers instruction in more than 25 different dance and fitness techniques, including Ballet, Hip-Hop, Horton, House, Jazz, Masala Bhangra, Samba, West African, and Zumba. [61]
Since 2005, the Ailey organization has been headquartered at the Joan Weill Center for Dance, which was originally designed as a 77,000 square-foot building. [41] [62] The Weill Center features state-of-the-art dance studios, a performance space with a seating capacity of 275 people, classrooms, a costume shop, physical therapy facilities, faculty and student lounges, and administrative offices. [30]
In the late 1990s, following their Russia, France and Cuba tours and South Africa residency, AAADT's leadership determined that it needed a larger space for rehearsals, school performances, production materials, and offices. [25] The board of trustees established a campaign steering committee to identify potential major donors. Joan Weill, who served fourteen years as chairwoman of the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, [63] and her husband, Sandy Weill, co-chaired the building capital campaign, [63] [40] and donated a total of eighteen million dollars to the effort. [25]
In 2017, AAADT unveiled The Elaine Wynn and Family Education Wing, a 10,000-square-foot expansion to the Weill Center. [5] Elaine Wynn is a major donor to AAADT. [64] The Wynn Wing adds three floors to Weill Center and features four additional dance studios, two new flexible classrooms, and administrative offices. [65]
The following is a partial list of trustees who have played a major role in AAADT's history.
A partial list of former Alvin Ailey dancers.
Alvin Ailey Jr. was an American dancer, director, choreographer, and activist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT). He created AAADT and its affiliated Alvin Ailey American Dance Center as havens for nurturing Black artists and expressing the universality of the African-American experience through dance.
Lester Iradell Horton was an American dancer, choreographer, and teacher.
Renee Robinson is a retired American dancer from Washington, D.C., who performed as a Principal Dancer of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. She began her dance training in classical ballet at the Jones-Haywood School of Ballet. She also attended the School of American Ballet, the Dance Theatre of Harlem and The Ailey School. Robinson was a member of the Alvin Ailey II, before becoming a member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1981.
Judith Ann Jamison was an American dancer and choreographer. She danced with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater from 1965 to 1980 and was Ailey's muse. She later returned to be the company's artistic director from 1989 until 2011, and then its artistic director emerita. She received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1999, the National Medal of Arts in 2001, and the Handel Medallion, New York City's highest cultural honor, in 2010.
Robert Garland is the artistic director of the Dance Theatre of Harlem, where he was a principal dancer and their first official resident choreographer. He has also choreographed for the New York City Ballet, The Royal Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, and the Oakland Ballet, among many others.
The Harkness Ballet (1964–1975) was a New ballet company named after its founder Rebekah Harkness. Harkness inherited her husband's fortune in Standard Oil holdings, and was a dance lover. Harkness funded Joffrey Ballet, but when they refused to rename the company in her honor, she withdrew funding and hired most of the Joffrey dancers for her new company. Joffrey Ballet later moved to Chicago, and continues to function.
Revelations is the best-known work of the modern dance choreographer Alvin Ailey. It is also the signature work of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, which premiered an extended version of the work in 1960, when Ailey was 29 years old. Set to spirituals, gospel, and blues music and influenced by the choreographer's own Christian upbringing, it presents a vision of the historical African American experience from a church-inspired perspective. The three sections of the final 36-minute revised version depict the suffering of slavery, baptismal joy, and a choral church celebration.
Carmen de Lavallade is an American actress, choreographer and dancer. For many years, she was associated with and married to Tony Award-winning actor, dancer, and director Geoffrey Holder. In 2017, she received the Kennedy Center Honors award for lifetime achievement and contributions to American culture.
Daniela Malusardi is an Italian choreographer, teacher and dancer.
Robert Battle is a dancer, choreographer, and the former Artistic Director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
Jacqulyn Buglisi is an American choreographer, artistic director, dancer, and educator. She is the founder or co-founder of multiple dance institutions, including the Buglisi Dance Theatre, which she founded with Terese Capucilli, Christine Dakin and Donlin Foreman in 1993.
George W. Faison is an American dancer, choreographer, teacher, and theater producer, and winner of a 1975 Tony, a Drama Desk Award, and a 1991 nominee for the Emmy Award for choreography. He was a featured dancer with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, founder of the George Faison Universal Dance Experience, and co-founder/producing artistic director of the Faison Firehouse Theater.
Francesca Harper is an American dancer and choreographer.
Masazumi Chaya is a Japanese American dancer, choreographer and was the associate artistic director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT) from 1991 to 2020.
Tracy Inman is an American dancer, choreographer, and educator who performed with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. He is currently the co-director of The Ailey School and a choreographer & consultant for the television series Pose.
Troy Powell also known as Troy O'Neil Powell is an American dancer, choreographer, educator, and director. He is a former principal dancer with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and former artistic director of AAADT's second company, Ailey 2. Powell was fired in July 2020 after an independent investigation into allegations of sexual abuse at the Ailey School concluded that he had engaged in "inappropriate communications" with students who were interested in joining the Ailey 2.
Donald Byrd is an American modern dance choreographer, known for themes relating to social justice, and in particular, racism.
Jacqueline Green is an American ballet dancer with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York. She is noted for her elegant and commanding presence on stage as well as her unusually rapid ascent in being recognized as a great and powerful dancer.
Hope Boykin is an American dancer and choreographer who is currently a member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
Alicia Graf Mack is an American dancer, teacher, and artistic director. She was a member of Dance Theatre of Harlem and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and has performed with Beyonce, John Legend, and Alicia Keys. Mack has taught dance at Washington University in St. Louis, Webster University, and University of Houston. In 2018, she was named the first Black Dean and Director of the Dance Division at Juilliard School, the youngest person to hold that role. During her Julliard tenure, she has been credited with "remaking Juilliard Dance." In November 2024, it was announced that Mack will be leaving Julliard in 2025 to become artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
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